2010-03-13

I'm off to Florida folks. I'll send back tweets and photos and probably a blog entry or two while I'm down there, basking in the Florida sun and AA's attempt at restoring the Jays to past glory.
My first stop will be Dunedin for back to backers first versus the Atlanta Braves, and then the next day versus the Red Sox.
The Braves are featuring the best prospect in baseball, Jason Heyward, former Jays 3rd sacker Troy Glaus and 1bluejaysway's favorite son, the World Series good luck charm himself, Eric Hinske. No telling if the Braves travel squad will include any of these guys, but if there's a God/Allah/Jebus in heaven, he'll be there, at 1st base, mere feet from my 1st row seats. Today, the Braves are visiting the Jays in Dunedin and their lineup features Melky Cabrera and Martin Prado, both projected starters along with Matt Diaz and the aforementioned Jason Heyward. So that could serve as a decent indicator of who will make the trip this time next weekend.
The Red Sox will be a split squad game, so anyone's guess as good as mine as to who will make the 3 hour drive up from Fort Myers. A quick look at the Boston's last split squad road game in Port Charlotte, home of the Tampa Bay Rays and an hour and half up I75, featured former Jay Marco Scutaro leading off at SS, Dustin Pedroia batting 2nd at 2B, Kevin Youkillis batting 3rd at 1B and new 3B Adrian Beltre batting cleanup. The pitchers however, all come down to pitching schedules. We could see Beckett, or Lackey or Lester, or end up seeing the likes of Doubront Castro or Wally the Green Monster. Not unlike the regular season, the boys from Beantown, routinely sell out spring training games at all of the Grapefruit league stops, and this one is no exception, being sold out since pretty much the moment tickets went on sale.
A few days later in my Florida jaunt, will feature a Jays road game in Port Charlotte. This should give a good insight on who's projected to be regulars for the Rays. As for the Jays? Who knows? My experience with Jays spring games on the road, is that the lineup card is reserved for projected bench players, and people rounding out the AA and AAA rosters.
In any event, should be fun, weather permitting, and I'm hoping to check in with selected members of the Jays management, coaching staff, maybe a player or two and of course, Chad The Beer Guy. Look for my posts starting the 20th.
That's my view...